Which type of RPG do you prefer?
Dark_Ansem
Member Posts: 992
I'm curious.
Sandbox-style: minimal plot involvement, CAC (create a character), post-endgame gameplay.
Semi-structured: CAC, can't deviate much from plot, little to zero post-endgame gameplay
Linear: no CAC, can't deviate from plot, no post-endgame gameplay.
Sandbox-style: minimal plot involvement, CAC (create a character), post-endgame gameplay.
Semi-structured: CAC, can't deviate much from plot, little to zero post-endgame gameplay
Linear: no CAC, can't deviate from plot, no post-endgame gameplay.
- Which type of RPG do you prefer?35 votes
- Sandbox-style RPGs (e.g. Skyrim)11.43%
- Semi-structured RPGs (e.g. Dragon Age Origins, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Fable)77.14%
- Linear RPGs (e.g. Final Fantasy series, Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment, Arcanum)11.43%
Post edited by Dark_Ansem on
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Comments
On the other hand, an overly structured main plot (especially if time constraints are attached) may take away from the player soaking in the atmosphere of the game and getting immersed in the world.
This is why I think the semi-structured system is superior. It gives you the best of both worlds.
Also, I don't think PS:T was that much more linear than Baldur's Gate.
I enjoyed IWD a lot and that is more linear. So I'd add that to the exceptions.
edit: would fallout new vegas be sand box or semi structered?
But I hate open world. I haven't encountered one that could tell a gripping story, and without a story I don't feel incentivised to carry on playing.
But anyways, I prefer this kind of game. If the game becomes to sandboxy, I can have a lot of fun but I just get lost and never end the game. I've played Skyrim for 100 hours+ but never once finished the main story arc (which though, to my defense, was utterly boring).
More seriously, options 2 and 3. More linear cRPGs often focus more on story and characters, while semi-linear ones are offering great mix between story, characters and freedom.
I can't stand pointless sandboxes, though. Sure, give me huge freaking world and forget giving my any reason to explore it while you are at it!
>e.g. Final Fantasy series
I'm sorry, what?
I'm sorry, since when you can access bonus bosses in FF 1-10 after beating the final boss (Chaos, Ultimecia, Sephiroth, Necron, Yu Yevon etc)?
Secondly: side-quests and mini-games mean absolutely not what I mean. Guess you'd learn the definitions I gave at the beginning more closely. Also, open world in FF1-6? Nonsense. You had to follow the plot to unlock new areas and ways to actually move across them (FF6 a particularly bad example with the World of Ruin, where you couldn't go anywhere without the airship).
Not to mention, "TONS" of side-quests? FF7 had one per each character, that's it. FF6 had more because it had a plethora of playable characters - the exception, really, because the other examples you mention have a normal cast. Re-releases add one or two quests. And map exploration in FF1 is pretty much limited, as it is for FF2 and FF3.
More linear than Baldur's Gate: Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, NWN campaigns, NWN2 campigns apart from SoZ, DA2.
Similar mix to Baldur's Gate: PoE, DOS 1&2, FO1 and 2, KotOR, FF7, DAO, Arcanum.
Open World: Elder Scrolls series, Witcher3.
The game starts out looking like an exploration, but on some pretty strict rails, effectively your training mode for the first few hours. Finally it opens up a little, and lets you explore a small area of the first world.
Once you get the plot-device McGuffin explained, it acts more like an open world, with a small fraction of the universe to explore, and who knows how much more locked off. You can explore your worlds, which are mostly open but may have an obstacle or two to access the full map.
Finally you get the next unlock, and the whole map opens up, and it is overwhelming. The little nudges that opened the world slowly gave you an expectation of the rate the game would feed you, and I am just lost. Have not found the time to dig into this endgame, as it is looking vast. Would have been prepared for it if the game started like this, but not as a bait-and-switch after what is typically 60-80 hours of playtime for me, if not more (I am a completionist by nature, I know it can be run a lot faster)